An Iranian court in the north-eastern city of Mashad sentenced a man to
have one of his eye's gouged out as punishment for blinding another
man during a scuffle, state-run press reported.

The defendant, identified only by his first name Amir, was sentenced by
the court to have his left eye gouged out, the hard-line daily Quds
wrote in its Tuesday edition. It added that Amir was found guilty of
blinding a man identified as Mehdi in one eye during a scuffle they had
in the open.

Amir, who is currently languishing in jail, was also sentenced to 74
lashes and prison time.

The phrase "An eye for an eye" is very stringently adhered to in
Iran's Islamic law.